Graduation celebrations during the past two weekends have focused on Big Island high school seniors and college students receiving diplomas and completing degree programs.
Another group of grads headed into the island’s law enforcement workforce became part of those festivities at the end of last week.
Hawaiʻi Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation welcomed a new class of 14 adult corrections officers during a graduation ceremony May 23 at the Island of Hawaiʻi YMCA.
Basic Corrections Recruit Class 25-03 is the third class to graduate from recruit training this year. The cohort is also the first graduating class of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation recruit course on a neighbor island.
“We are so proud of every graduate, who represents strength and honor,” Corrections and Rehabilitation Department Director Tommy Johnson said in a announcement about the graduation.
Big Island graduates were assigned to the following jails and prisons:
Another recruit class on Hawaiʻi island is already underway.
Graduates completed 8 weeks of rigorous recruit training of more than 300 hours of classroom instruction and physical training including:
It’s the mission of Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide a secure correctional environment for comprehensive, rehabilitative, holistic, wraparound re-entry services, including culturally-based approaches to offenders sentenced to the department’s custody and care.
“Our goal is to reduce recidivism and enhance the safety and security of our communities,” said the department’s graduation announcement.
All incoming classes receive recruit field training along with basic corrections training.
During their final weeks of training, recruits spend time the facility where they will begin their jobs, receiving guidance from their training sergeants.
The department initiated aggressive recruitment efforts in January 2024 — after being split from Hawaiʻi Department of Public Safety — to address the shortage of adult corrections officers. Conducting a recruitment class on a neighbor island represents one of those efforts.
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation increased the number of graduating classes and compressed its recruitment training course to 8 weeks from 11, while still covering critical training to ensure new officers are well-prepared for their jobs.
Recruitment efforts also included on-the-spot interviews at the Hawaiʻi Career Expo, radio spots, movie ads at theaters throughout the state, social media, bus ads and more.
